Garrison Regiments

Town watch & Fortress Cannon units are units that we all know, however I believe historically there were also Garrison Regiments made up of the Old & infirm members of the army who had the job of manning the fortifications. I wonder if this could be a new unit to introduce to the Game? I'm not saying they would be much use on the battlefield at all, more a unit in static defence.

I asked that once I believe, it can be done from veterans who have past their sell by date to free up better troops for active service...

Down side they may not be much cop if the town/fort gets attacked due to age....

But what would the advantage in game be? Unless they were better at defending towns for some reason (unlikely?) or were cheaper than a conventional infantry regiment (historically I don't think that was the case?) I'm not sure there would be a reason-you would end up using up a battalion (or battalions) of recruits to form a unit that cost the same as a normal infantry battalion but not as useful.

Would not a Militia provide the same units in time of dire need. ? and if so it would contain the same older ex soldiers.

One Grain. 

Militia would be made up of older soldiers, your correct there, but Militia is also part a part time force, you need a bit of time to activate in game, plus you cannot train it up, or it looses trained status when demobilized.

Historically I suppose they made use of soldiers who were no longer front line material, which enabled more able bodied troops to be freed up for the mobile fighting. Maybe they should be smaller units say 500 men like town watch units, maybe Militarised town watch units could used to define the costs upkeep etc, In a similar way to militarising artillery units. It would allow you to garrison cities & free up infantry for other tasks, maybe they should be denied Elite status, as they are more a second line force.


Another Idea I have been toying with is that of training depots, or replacement units, would it be an idea I wonder to train up recruits to send to armies to help bring down SL, in a way this was historically what happened, I know the new rules say that sending recruits can help lower SL, but I wonder if training them as well would improve the effect they have?

I guess you could have "garrison battalions" costing the same to maintain as Watches so £7,000 for 700. Somewhere Richard has, either generally or in response to a question I asked him, explained about the fighting ability of Watches armed with muskets, I really need to try and find whatever it is I am thinking of...

The trained recruits idea seems a good one

Soldiers age in real life unlike the game so there would be quite a few veterans that have decades of experience and are capable fighters but unwilling or unable to endure the life of a soldier outside in the rain and snow anymore. So they become garrison troops instead, or watchmen.

Game 2 and 3 have been running for about 40 game years and several units must have been active from the start, with the same troops... Keeping track would be a horrible mess of course and a lot of work.

There are some rules that are a bit unrealistic to be honest but the game works and I have enjoyed it for many years.

A good one is artillery, guns and limbers only for a battery (8 8-12 pdrs) will cost 4,000

A Frigate carrying 40 12pdrs will cost 7,000 while the guns alone on land would be closer to 20,000.

No complaint, just a bit strange.

Ref Garrison units from a book keeping point of view I preferred the LAK method ......for £100,000 you got a Garrison Unit made up of fortress cannon, town levy, depot/training troops, old soldiers, the local rifle shooting club, etc, etc.

Size of Garrison was not specified but was assumed to be related to the size of city..........basically cities like London (which had 20,000 to 30,000 men in its trained bands), Paris, Constantinople etc would not fall to a couple of Regiments of Dragoons even if someone let them in!

These "troops" did not count as recruits (in LAK I think you got less recruits to make up for this) and for various reasons are not fit for field operations but give them their own bed, a good ditch and a solid rampart they could be a very dangerous foe.

On the basis that Garrison units are in place in major fortresses this gives your Military a Historic feel and also gives "generals" some historic options with the field army inc 1) Using field army units to reinforce threatened garrisons or 2) Avoiding battle and fighting from shelter of fortress.

Do people think this is an option which we should go back too?

Something else I have also found interesting is the difference between Home Country forces and Colonial Garrison troops.

The classic example is the British in Indea but I also recently picked up a Ospray Book on the Spanish Army in North America 1700-1793.
Interestingly while the Urban Militia foot look very like European Regulars some of the Colonial Cavalry......esp the Cuera Cavalry of the Northern Frontier look like a throw back to the Genitors and the border troops who fought the Moors in Spain prior to 1492.

For starters faced with Indians like the Comanche who used bows and lances they were equiped with an arrow proof leather shields and buff coats. Also in addition to the swords and firearms used in Spain they used the Lance. They were also surposed to have 7 horses each (inc a mule).

I had honestly forgotten about the LAOK garrison units, but it seems to be a reasonably good idea to bring them across into LGDR, I suppose you could use the same calculation for militia, with 10% of the city population being avaliable as garrison, if you included it as a basic package including Fortress Cannon. Then it could be a viable option. Thanks Stuart, sounds like you may have answered my original question.

curious but interesting - thank you for this.